Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

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Phase 34 - A Shadowed Alliance

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Technically, Aoma Vedlow wasn’t supposed to be on the deck of the Minerva in the early morning hours, watching the sunrise. But she doubted anyone would care at this point— between Shinn and Ruumari and their combined breaches of protocol, running the gamut from unauthorized launches to treason, standing around on the deck watching the sunrise was fairly innocuous.

She leaned against the railing and stared at the steadily rising sun, wondering how her life had come to this point. She was a soldier with honors, a ZAFT Red, piloting a Gundam of all things, on the flagship of ZAFT…and yet her best friend was sprinting headlong down the path to his own destruction, ZAFT was losing the war, and the flagship of ZAFT was on a miserable mission to track down a traitor who, it seemed, was undefeatable.

She wondered what her parents would think, back on Januarius 3. She and Ruumari had grown up together, gone through their training together, and now they had fought together, but Ruumari was spiraling out of control, and everything was going with it.

And the worst part, she supposed, was that she had specifically asked Ruumari to come here and talk to her. And yet he was nowhere to be found.

“He’s probably still training with Rey,” she said, staring at the sea in disappointment. “That’ll be his downfall.”

She looked out towards the patch of horizon that the Minerva was sailing towards. Somewhere out there, she assumed, was the pirate ship with Shinn Asuka on board. He was waiting for them, but they weren’t going to attack, at least not for a while. The pirate ship and the Orb Raiders were steaming headlong into a confrontation with the Takemikazuchi Fleet of the United Emirates of Orb. Captain Gladys had no real interest in picking a fight with Orb or its finest fleet, and was content to let the pirates and their strange new bedfellows get into a mess themselves. Perhaps they could slip in during the chaos and pick off the traitor Asuka before anyone knew what was coming.

Aoma, however, found herself not caring. Shinn was going to destroy Ruumari; she knew it, and dreaded their next confrontation for it.

Suddenly that Destroy Gundam was looking a lot more inviting.

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The Impulse Gundam took off with a flash, and inside the cockpit, Shinn clenched his fists angrily around the controls. They were getting paid— that was the only reason they would even be bothering to launch this attack— but as he soared through the dawn skies towards the Takemikazuchi Fleet, he could not help but feel as though he were in the wrong place at the wrong time. What business did he have attacking Orb? They weren’t his enemy. Kira Yamato, the pilot of the Freedom, was his enemy.

“Shinn,” he heard Chris’s voice say harshly. He looked up, finding Chris’s 105 Dagger, sporting a Jet Striker, drop into formation in front of him. “The Orb Raiders want you and Stella to go with them.”

“We’ll protect the ship,” George added, as his CGUE drifted in next to the Impulse. “Don’t worry about us.”

“Roger,” Shinn answered reluctantly. He glanced at the Gaia; Stella nodded to him, and the two mobile suits peeled off and angled towards the Megami’s mobile suit squadron. “What could they want with us…?” he murmured.

“Shinn,” Athrun interrupted, as the Justice Gundam pulled in next to the Impulse. “We’re going after the flagship. We want you to tag along.”

“Who’s ‘we?’” Shinn asked, arching a dubious eyebrow.

“Just a few of us,” Athrun said. “We’re going to take down Jona Roma Seiran once and for all.”

Shinn cast a skeptical glance at the fleet up ahead. “We have to get to him first,” he warned.

Athrun allowed himself a thin smile. “That’s why we’re bringing you.”

Shinn bit back a curse. Of course that was why they were bringing him. He was a Newtype, after all.

“You’d better make sure you pay us,” he snarled, cutting the transmission.

Up ahead, the Takemikazuchi Fleet was showing no signs of slowing down, but they weren’t changing course either. Shinn consulted his map and blinked in surprise, as their projected course pointed them towards the United Emirates of Orb. They were headed back home at breakneck speed. He glanced up at the fleet itself, watching as its mobile suits took off from the decks of the vessels. At the center of it all was the flagship, the Takemikazuchi, where Jona Roma Seiran was waiting.

Shinn narrowed his eyes at the whole spectacle.

There was a flash of reflected light; Shinn squinted angrily, shielding his eyes with his hand, as the Akatsuki shot forward, wielding a massive curved sword.

“Murasame units,” Shinn heard the voice of Cagalli Yula Athha call out, “keep back and prevent the enemy mobile suits from reaching the Megami.”

The Murasame units peeled off, hanging back in front of the Megami and the Kasselheim. Shinn cast an angry glance at the Akatsuki, squeezing his eyes shut as it caught the light of the sun and reflected it all right back in his face. As the Akatsuki moved ahead, he glared after it. Cagalli had to be the center of attention— what kind of unit was painted bright gold? That thing was asking to get shot down.

The Orb warships began to open fire with ranging shots, as their mobile suits formed up. The artillery shells flashed by the Orb Raider mobile suits harmlessly. The Aegis Gundam moved up next to the Akatsuki.

“Split up and attack your assigned targets on my mark,” a grizzled voice said. “Shinn, Stella, you two accompany Athrun and Cagalli to the Takemikazuchi. You’ve got a date with Jona and we’d hate for you to miss it.”

Shinn scowled at the Aegis and cast a glare at the Justice. These damn Orb Raiders acted like they knew him or something.

The enemy Murasames up ahead opened fire; Shinn narrowed his eyes at them and deflected their shots with his shield. There was only one way through this, and with that thought, he armed the beam rifle and clenched his fist over the trigger.

“We’re going to skim over the surface and try to slip in beneath their line of fire,” Athrun said quickly. “Follow us.”

The Justice and Akatsuki descended down towards the ocean surface; Shinn glanced at Stella and the Impulse and Gaia followed. Shinn glanced up above himself, as the Orb Raiders’ Murasames opened fire on their enemy counterparts, and the Gundams punched their way through. He turned his attention to the fleet, rapidly approaching.

“They’re not changing their course or their speed,” Athrun noted grimly.

“And they’re heading straight for Orb,” Shinn added. “They’re heading home as fast as possible.”

“Something must have happened,” Cagalli concluded. “But we’re not going to let that stop us. We’ll ask Jona himself if we have to.”

Shinn snorted dismissively. Easy for her to say.

A squadron of Murasames swept down behind the four charging Gundams. Athrun moved to attack them, but a bright yellow beam swept over them, annihilating all three before they could open fire. Overhead, the Buster Gundam held up three fingers with its left hand and took off. Up ahead, the ships turned their guns on the four charging Gundams, forcing them all to take cover behind their shields.

“We’ll have to get by the rearguard to get to the flagship,” Athrun grunted, as the Justice shook from a shell impact.

Shinn scowled. He would have to earn his pay somehow.

“We’ll deal with that,” he snapped. “Stella, come on.”

The Impulse and Gaia took off with a roar. Behind them, inside the Akatsuki, Cagalli blinked.

“What’s with him?” she asked, glancing suspiciously at Athrun.

“I don’t know,” Athrun admitted with a shrug. “Let’s just hope he’s in a better mood today.”

Inside the Impulse, Shinn felt his anger vanish as he dove into his element. The first ship, a Kuraokami-class cruiser, came into his sights; Shinn narrowed his eyes, picking off the ship’s main gun with a beam rifle shot. He charged in close, cutting down a swarm of missiles with a burst of CIWS fire, and lunged onto the Kuraokami’s deck, drawing a beam saber. The ship tried to turn its guns on the Impulse; an instant later, Shinn stabbed out the bridge with his saber and perforated the exposed interior with CIWS fire. The ship rumbled violently; Shinn leapt into the air, deflecting another wave of CIWS fire from another ship as the Kuraokami exploded.

The next ship, an Aegis-class, turned its main gun on the Impulse. But before it could fire, its main gun went sailing into the water, and a moment later, the ship broke in two with a fiery blast. The Gaia lunged past in quadruped mode, landing on another Kuraokami and crushing its weapons. Shinn swept in behind the Gaia, seeing a plan taking shape, and darted down towards the ship, ripping it open with his beam saber. As seawater gushed into the wounded cruiser, Shinn turned to follow the Gaia. It landed with a crunch on the deck of another Aegis and tore the ship’s side in two with its beam cannons. As the Gaia took off, Shinn rocketed down into the Aegis’s open hangar and drove his saber to the hilt into the ship’s deck. As the ship began to explode, he took off again, towards another Kuraokami. Stella blew off the main gun with a well-placed beam cannon volley; Shinn somersaulted over the wounded ship, slashing it in two with his beam saber and striking the missile magazines. As the crippled warship exploded into the air, Shinn looked up towards the next array of ships. They were getting close to the Takemikazuchi.

A volley of beam blasts came down into the ocean next to him. The Gaia glanced up into the air as Shinn backed away behind his shield, and they both leapt aside as the fleet’s Murasames returned with a devastating salvo of beam blasts. The Gaia transformed back into its mobile suit mode, smacking a pair of beam shots aside and returning fire with its beam rifle. Shinn dove along the surface of the water, switching back to his beam rifle, dodging beam blasts from a trio of Murasames overhead, and backflipped over another Kuraokami cruiser, using it as cover and sniping one of the Murasames out of the air. The smoldering mobile suit plowed into the cruiser, blasting it apart, and Shinn backed away, firing back at the remaining two Murasames as they watched the cruiser sink in disbelief.

“Having fun without us, Shinn?” Athrun asked, as the Justice Gundam dropped in with a beam cannon volley, wiping out two more Murasames. The Justice stormed forward, slithering past a wave of missiles from another wing of Murasames and shooting them down before they could turn themselves around. Shinn narrowed his eyes, picking another Murasame out of the air.

Waves of missiles came slamming down into the Orb ships, and Shinn dove up into the air, rising above the smoke. He glanced behind himself, finding the Duel and Buster Gundams floating nearby, their missile launchers open. The Buster flamboyantly combined its guns and sank another Kuraokami, while the Duel picked off a wing of incoming Murasames.

“This is too easy,” Shinn snorted. A Murasame came shrieking down towards him; he somersaulted over it and fired a beam shot into its back as it shot by.

A pair of red beam blasts streaked by, smashing another pair of Murasames, and the Akatsuki shot by in a blinding flash.

“We still have to get to the flagship!” Cagalli shouted. “Come on!”

Shinn cursed under his breath and leapt up into the air, the Justice and Gaia right behind. A desperate Murasame swept in behind the Akatsuki; as Cagalli wheeled around to face it, the Murasame opened fire. Shinn’s eyes widened in disbelief—

…only to watch the beam bounce harmlessly against the Akatsuki’s golden armor. Cagalli raised her rifle and picked the Murasame out of the air.

“What the hell was that?!” Shinn exclaimed.

“The Akatsuki’s special feature,” Athrun explained. “It has anti-beam armor, which is why it’s bright gold.”

Shinn scowled. It figured that they’d give Cagalli the mobile suit that nobody could shoot down.

Another Murasame slid in behind the Justice to open fire; a moment later, the Aegis Gundam, in mobile armor mode, slammed its arms around the Murasame and fired its Scylla cannon, wiping the Murasame out. Shinn ducked below a volley of missiles; behind him, the Aile Strike Gundam cut them down with a CIWS burst.

Shinn narrowed his eyes as the warships drew closer to the flagship, putting up a withering barrage to keep the enemy at bay. He scowled; there was only so much good they could do while floating there unable to move. He switched to his beam saber and charged ahead.

“Shinn!” Athrun exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

“Opening a path!” Shinn shouted back.

Overhead, a Murasame was angling down towards him. Shinn narrowed his eyes; the seed burst before him, and he rocketed up into the air. With a crash, he landed on top of the Murasame, and angled himself down towards an Aegis. It tried to pull up; Shinn slammed the Impulse’s feet down on it and fired the Force Silhouette’s thrusters, latching onto the hapless mobile suit. The Murasame’s comrades swept in to help; a wave of beam shots forced them back and sent several of them spiraling into the ocean, and the Orb Raider Gundams moved in, beam rifles blazing. Shinn nosed the Murasame up towards the Aegis’s open hangar and engaged the booster.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” Athrun shouted. Shinn ignored him, scowling, and at the last second, plunged his beam saber into the Murasame’s body and leapt off, rocketing up into the air. The Murasame slammed into the Aegis’s hangar and exploded; a moment later, the Aegis went with it, taking down several nearby ships.

“And there’s our path,” Shinn said flatly, as the scorched warships sank.

The Akatsuki landed with a crash on the deck of the Takemikazuchi, pointing its beam rifle at the bridge tower. Shinn landed nearby with the other Gundams, watching tensely as the Murasames circled overhead. With the enemy this close to their leader, they wouldn’t dare attack— hopefully.

“Jona Roma Seiran!” Cagalli snapped, broadcasting her words to the Takemikazuchi and whatever mobile suit and ship was nearby. “I know you’re in there! Come out and surrender!”

The livid face of Jona Roma Seiran appeared on the monitor inside Shinn’s Impulse.

“How dare you,” Jona snarled, “attacking your own people, in their own weapon, and claiming you’re doing it for Orb’s good! Especially at a time like this!”

“You have no business being out here in the first place!” Cagalli shouted back. “Orb has no business meddling in a war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT!”

Jona sneered. “Are you still spouting that line?” he asked, crossing his arms contemptuously. “Did no one tell you? The world has changed, and we must change with it.” He uncrossed his arms and pointed vindictively at Cagalli. “Now get out of our way! We have more important things to worry about than some little rebel girl like you!”

“You what?” Cagalli asked.

“We are returning to Orb,” Jona said, “to defend it from a ZAFT invasion!”

Cagalli’s eyes widened in disbelief. “A…ZAFT invasion?”

“A ZAFT invasion,” Jona snapped. “We do not have the time nor the inclination to play this little game. Our country is at stake. Will you really prevent us from defending the nation we are both fighting for in our own ways? Back down at once.”

“ZAFT is going to invade Orb…?” Cagalli murmured.

“It makes sense,” Athrun warned. “They’re losing the war and they need to relieve pressure on their allies.”

“What allies?” someone, Shinn recalled his name being Yzak, snorted dismissively. “The Muslim League’s been ground into dust. They won’t last another 24 hours.”

“You’re bluffing,” Cagalli said, scowling back at Jona. Shinn blinked in surprise, noting that she wasn’t nearly so confident in herself now. “ZAFT is on the retreat all over the world. They wouldn’t waste so much energy trying to invade a country like Orb.”

“Do you want to bet our country’s life on that?” Jona asked venomously. “Go ahead, sink this ship, destroy this fleet. And then you can watch as Orb is powerless to defend itself from ZAFT!” He pointed angrily at Cagalli again. “ZAFT is going to attack in five days, you fool! Get off my ship and let us go back home, or else we’ll both lose the country we’re fighting for!”

The Akatsuki took a heavy step back. Cagalli glared angrily at Jona, trembling.

“All units, retreat,” she said at last.

“What?” Athrun asked, the Justice taking an incredulous step forward.

“I said retreat!” Cagalli snapped. The Akatsuki leapt into the air and took off. Shinn looked in surprise, watching the golden mobile suit race towards the Megami.

“You heard her,” Andy said loudly, the Aegis stepping towards the edge of the Takemikazuchi’s flight deck. “We’re retreating!”

As the Gundams took off, Shinn glanced down below at the Takemikazuchi’s bridge tower, wondering if Jona was right.

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“Admiral,” Todaka asked as the Orb Raiders’ Gundams took off with a flash, “are you sure we should be letting them go like this?”

“What choice do we have?” Jona snarled back. “Order all mobile suits to return. Leave the Takisatsu behind to collect survivors and bodies from the sunken ships. The rest of the fleet will set out for Orb at once.” He turned to leave, growling furiously to himself. It was a golden opportunity— Cagalli had blundered right into his sights. If only he had been bluffing, he could have brought down the leaders of the Orb Raiders in one fell swoop.

He glanced at the door Jona had just stormed out of.

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“So ZAFT is going to attack Orb,” Mev said, sitting back and crossing his arms in the captain’s chair. “An interesting new circumstance. ZAFT must be getting desperate— there‘s no reason to attack Orb out of all the other nations in the Alliance.”

“If we didn’t sign on to fight a civil war, we didn’t sign on to join the war that’s going on now,” Viima said pointedly. “Captain, we can’t afford to get sucked into this.”

“I’m sure Miss Athha will be coming by to make a sales pitch,” Mev went on. “We’ll wait until she’s poured her heart out for us to make a decision.”

“Their debt to us will make the Atlantic Federation military jealous,” Mike snorted.

“And they still have yet to give us an incentive to put our necks on the chopping block,” Yun added. “It’s not our problem if Orb goes up in smoke again. We don’t fight wars.”

“This is no ordinary war,” Mev said authoritatively, silencing his crew. He glanced at Viima. “I expect Miss Athha will be coming by shortly to try to persuade us to join her in defending Orb. Inform me when she arrives.” He glanced back at the Megami. “It seems destiny has other plans for us.”

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George cast a weary glance towards Shinn as he stood on the Impulse Gundam’s boarding gantry, staring at the hangar walls as Miki’s GINN High Maneuver II stomped by.

“What’s wrong?” George asked cautiously. Shinn glanced at him indifferently.

“I’m getting sucked back into this war,” he said, “that’s what.”

George came up next to Shinn, leaning against the railing. “It’s arguable that you never left it,” he said.

“What?” Shinn asked, glancing angrily at George.

“The Minerva and that Alliance ship have been harassing us ever since we took you on,” he said, “and we’ve still got your ZAFT friends following us.”

Shinn looked back at the hangar wall angrily. “I know,” he said. “But now we’re going to get dragged into defending Orb.” He scowled. “We’re getting dragged into Orb’s war.”

George shrugged. “They’ve promised us quite a bit of money,” he reasoned.

“And what good is that?” Shinn countered. “It’s all well and good to promise to pay us giant sums of money, but it doesn’t mean anything until they actually pay us.”

George smirked. “True,” he admitted. “But we’ve been involved in all sorts of little conflicts before.”

“This isn’t a little conflict,” Shinn said. “It’s a war. A war that’s going to get us all killed.”

George arched an eyebrow. “Good to see you’re keeping the faith.”

Shinn clenched his fists. “I’m not going to let this ship be destroyed,” he said, glowering at the hangar wall and curling his fingers around the gantry railing. “I finally have a home. I’m not going to let it get taken away.”

George stood up to leave. “War has a way of doing that,” he said. “The captain will make the choice he feels is best for us.”

George headed back down the gantry. Shinn stayed behind, glowering. Kira and his Freedom Gundam and his little self-righteous war had taken away his last home. It would not happen again.

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“You’re making progress, at least,” Lee said, trying to be encouraging, as Sting and Auel gasped for breath in the chairs in front of his desk. “You’re lasting longer and longer through the repetitions of your block words.”

“It’s taking so long,” Auel muttered angrily.

“Nobody said it wouldn’t,” Lee countered. He checked his computer terminal. “It’s getting harder to cook up fake data to keep your engineers unaware.”

“We’ll worry about that,” Sting breathed. “You just keep doing what you’ve been doing. We’re getting there.”

Lee nodded soberly. He activated his monitor, sitting back in his chair as he flipped through news channels.

“ZAFT attempted to reinforce its Carpentaria base with forces from its Antarctic base today,” an anchor announced emotionlessly, “but their reinforcements were beaten back by the Earth Alliance forces in the area. This marks the sixth day of the Earth Alliance’s siege…”

“They’re finished,” Sting said quietly. Lee glanced at him. “ZAFT won’t last much longer, will they?”

Lee looked back at the screen. “Not on Earth,” he said. “In space it will be a different story. ZAFT has most of its strength in space. We’ll have to see how far our momentum can carry us.” He shut the monitor off. “What are you planning on doing once your block words are broken?”

Sting and Auel glanced at each other, and then back at Lee. He studied their faces for a moment and nodded.

“I see,” he said.
“We don’t want to implicate you in anything,” Sting began.

Lee arched an amused eyebrow. “Implicate me in what?” he asked with a small smile.

Auel smirked back. “Exactly.”

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Cagalli cast a suspicious glance across the bridge of the Kasselheim at Shinn. He glared back, but neither said anything. Cagalli stepped forward, towards Mev, who sat in his chair, regarding Cagalli impassively.

“I had a feeling you would come over here to try to sway us,” Mev said. He gestured for Cagalli to speak. She looked uncomfortable at being directed, and glanced back at Athrun, Mwu, and Andy. They nodded to her; Athrun cast a wary glance at Shinn.
“ZAFT is going to attack Orb in five days,” she said, “and we’ve inflicted a lot of damage on the Takemikazuchi Fleet, which is going to be instrumental in defending Orb. We don’t want to rely on the Earth Alliance for help, since there’s no guarantee that they’ll send any troops to help defend Orb. It’s our country, and right now it faces a threat greater and more pressing than the Seirans. So we are setting course for Orb to help defend it from ZAFT.”

“We figured that was what you were going to do, Miss Athha,” Mev interrupted. “And we figured that you would come over here and try to persuade us to go with you.” He paused. “If you don’t mind, start persuading.”

“You’re pirates,” she said. “Outlaws. You don’t have a home. You just wander around on this ship. If you help us defend Orb and retake it from the Seirans, we’ll give you a home.”

“We already have one,” Shinn spoke up. Athrun put a warning hand on Cagalli’s shoulder before she could do anything. “Why should we put it in jeopardy for your civil war?”

Cagalli took a moment to calm herself. “In Orb you wouldn’t have to protect anyone,” she said.

Shinn snorted dismissively. “Nowhere in the world is there gonna be a place where I won’t have to fight,” he said. “Not unless Orb will somehow change the way people are.”

“That’s not what we’re trying to do,” Athrun said quickly. “We’re just trying to create a place where there’s another way.”

“You don’t seem to be speaking our language,” Mev noted.

“There has to be a higher purpose you’re fighting for than money!” Cagalli exclaimed, whirling around to face Mev.

“Higher purposes don’t feed crews and repair engines,” Mev countered. “We can’t just go running to the Junk Guild to give us supplies and fix our ship. We have more worldly problems to take care of first.”

Cagalli looked aside angrily. “We’ll triple your pay,” she growled.

“Our already tripled pay,” Mev corrected. “But are you going to give in that easily?” Cagalli blinked and looked back up at Mev. “Pay us now and we will go with you.”

“What?” Viima exclaimed, standing up. “Captain— ”

“Enough,” Mev cut her off. “Miss Athha, I demand our payment up front. We will not play this waiting game with our just desserts any longer. Provide our payment now and we will accompany you to Orb and assist you in the nation’s defense.” He extended a hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Cagalli looked at his hand hesitantly. She glanced back at Athrun; he nodded, and she slowly shook Mev’s hand. “We do,” she said.

Shinn watched in disbelief as the Orb Raiders shuffled off the bridge. Viima leapt to her feet once they had left.

“Captain!” she shouted. “We can’t go fight a war with them! We’re out of our league!”

“This was the only way to ensure that they would actually pay us and not just string us along with promises,” Mev countered. He glanced pointedly at Shinn. “Besides,” he added, “we’ve been part of the war for a while now.”

Shinn scowled and stalked off the bridge.

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“Captain,” the communications officer said, “we have a priority message from the Minerva.”

“Patch it through,” the captain of the Deliverance, Davis, said as he sat up in his seat. Above him, Rau Le Creuset leaned back, draping one leg over the other and gazing out the windows with an amused smile as the Deliverance glided forward underwater.

“’We have ascertained the position of the pirate ship harboring Shinn Asuka and are relaying you their last known location, speed, and bearing,’” the communication officer read. The coordinates appeared on the screen over Rau’s seat; his smile got a little wider.

“Lock those coordinates into the computer,” he ordered. “Inform the hangar to prepare our machines. We’ll be launching tomorrow morning.”

“Yes sir,” the captain answered, picking up his intercom.

Rau sat back, smiling.

You’ve grown up since we last met, Shinn, he thought amusedly. Time to see if you’re the big bad Newtype that Gilbert thought you would be.

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To be continued…